“There are two types of people. Those who come into a room and say, ‘Well, here I am,’ and those who come in and say, ‘Ah, there you are.’” —Frederick Collins

I’m ashamed to say it but for many years I would come home from work and walk into my home with the “well, here I am” attitude. Of course I would have never said those words but, sadly, that was the vibe. Thankfully, I have changed, and I now work hard to show kindness and warmth in greeting others.

I just returned from a spectacular 9 day trip to the Piemonte region of Italy. The landscape, the wine, the food, the people, the lifestyle — everything was simply spellbinding. This was my first time to Italy and I fell in love with this beautiful country.

When you travel to a foreign country it does have its challenges. I didn’t speak the language. It was difficult to understand the road signs and how to pay for self-service petrol. Something as simple as ordering a meal was challenging too when you don’t know Italian.(more photos from Italy below the fold) Continue Reading →

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. -Albert Einstein

When I first arrived at the dumpsite outside of Manilla, Phillipines the group guide admonished us not to complain about the smell and stench of this 2,000,000 ton garbage heap, known as Smokey Mountain, the waste disposal area for Manila. I was a part of a U.S. group who’d come to deliver some dignity, to the 30.000 dumpsite squatters.

The Manilla dumpsite got its name from the continuous decomposing waste and refuse fires. I don’t remember the smoke and fires as much as the encounters I had with the residents.

By the end of the one-day tour I was in tears. No living thing on this earth should be sentenced to live in this hell of undignified existence.

But that wasn’t why I cried. My emotions were sparked by the beauty I saw inside these forgotten outcasts. I saw within them a simple awe and intrigue as we walked among their shanties delivering simple goods. I expected to see a helpless survivor demeanor but instead I saw gratitude and curiosity.

No matter if you’re living in palace royalty or in abject third world poverty, within each one of us resides a sense of wonder, a spirit of intrigue for our surroundings. But we’ll miss the miracles if we don’t really pay attention to the awesomeness that is all around us.

We humans have to work at not falling into complacency. If the opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Then the opposite of awe is apathy. Continue Reading →

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Are you aware whether you are confident or not? Have you ever doubted your values? Have you ever doubted your abilities? Do you understand what self-confidence is? Do you know how to easily and practically build up your self-confidence?

If you are intrigued enough by these questions, then read on. Here is something that will help you construct an enormous amount of confidence in yourself.

To start this off, first understand what self-confidence is. If you google it, the meaning of self-confidence literally is, “the state of feeling certain about the truth of something”. It is the feeling of absolute conviction stated in something or someone (could be you). So now you might ask, “How do I attain that feeling of absolute truth and certainty?” I am glad you asked. Continue Reading →

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

~Ernest Hemingway

Hi, my name is Ron, and I’m a recovering unconscious listener. For most of my life, I’ve had a difficult time listening to others. I’m not talking about adult attention deficit disorder (AADD) or pigheadedness but rather just plain inattentiveness to others when they were speaking.

There have been so many embarrassing times in my life when someone would say to me, “You weren’t listening, were you?” Continue Reading →

With this new blog I’m jumping into the deep waters of the blogging world to write about one of my passions — living a happier and more simple life. I am so excited to launch Happy Simple Life, and if you are here, you probably share this passion for living with less and enjoying life more. I’m thrilled you are part of this community.

I want to offer you ideas, strategies, and inspiration for designing your life around what truly matters to YOU most. A simple and happy life requires us to clear out the clutter – not only from our physical space, but also from our schedules, our thoughts, our relationships, and our emotions. Easier said than done, right? But together, we’ll learn from each other and share ideas and meaningful tips on how to improve ourselves so we can experience the happiest life – as we define that for ourselves.

And some of the best strategies come from experts who have written extensively about simple living and happiness. As my way of celebrating the simple, happy life and sharing it with you, I have selected 16 of the best writers around the web who focus on this topic and offer inspiration for enjoying more of life with less stress, less stuff, and less worry. Hope you enjoy them! Continue Reading →